LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - A proposal to allow certain relatives of crime victims to attend executions in Arkansas failed to clear the House on Tuesday.

Lawmakers voted 48-13 in favor of the bill - but that was three votes short of the 51-vote majority needed to pass it. The bill would allow some adult relatives of victims to watch executions in person. Current law says adult relatives of victims can watch executions on a closed-circuit television.

Backers of the measure said it was needed to provide emotional support to relatives of victims.

"This bill is not about capital punishment, this bill is about family members of victims who, through no choice of their own, have been robbed of a family member," said Rep. Dotson, R-Bentonville, the bill's House sponsor. "This is a rare thing, but if we can offer the victims of this horrible situation some closure, I think we owe it to them."

But Rep. John Walker, D-Little Rock, told lawmakers he was concerned that the families of condemned prisoners wouldn't also be afforded the same opportunity. He also suggested that fewer, not more, people should be allowed to view executions.

"Why is it that we accommodate one group but not the members of the family of the person being executed?" Walker asked, adding that he thought the disparity could expose the state to a lawsuit on equal protection grounds.

A Department of Correction spokeswoman had also expressed concerns about the bill.